GER Class Y14

Class of 0 6 0 mixed traffic locomotives built by the Great Eastern Railway

The Great Eastern Railway (GER) Class Y14 is a class of 0 6 0 steam locomotive. The LNER classified them J15. The Class Y14 was designed by T. W. Worsdell for both freight and passenger duties a veritable 'maid of all work'. Introduced in July 1883, they were so successful that all the succeeding Locomotive Superintendents continued to build new batches up until 1913 with little design change, the final total being 289. During World War I, 43 of the engines served in France and Belgium.

On 10–11 December 1891, the Great Eastern Railway's Stratford Works built one of these locomotives and had it in steam with a coat of grey primer in 9 hours 47 minutes; this remains a world record. The locomotive then went off to run 36000 mile (57936 km) on Peterborough to London coal trains before coming back to the works for the final coat of paint. It lasted 40 years and ran a total of 1127750 mile (1814933 km). Because of their light weight the locomotives were given the Route Availability (RA) number 1, indicating that they could work over nearly all routes. + Table of orders and numbers Year Order Manufacturer Quantity GER Nos. LNER Nos. 1946 Nos. Notes 1883 Y14 Stratford Works 10 610–619 7610–7618, — — 1884 K15 Stratford Works 20 620–639 7620–7639 — 1884 — Sharp, Stewart & Co. 3146–3164 19 37–41, 119–124, 592–599 7037, 07038–07039, —, 7600, 7119–7124, 7592–7599 — 41 renumbered 600 in 1912 1885 N16 Stratford Works 10 680–689 7680–7689 — 1885–86 P17 Stratford Works 10 690–699 7690–7699 — 1886 M18 Stratford Works 10 800–809 7609, 7801–7809 — 800 renumbered 609 in 1892 1886–87 X18 Stratford Works 10 810–819 7810–7819 5350 1887 D20 Stratford Works 10 820–829 7820–7829 5351–5353 1887–88 U20 Stratford Works 10 527–536 7527–7536 5354–5356 1888 R21 Stratford Works 10 537–541, 830–834 7537–7541, 7830–7834 5357–5360 1889 T22 Stratford Works 10 835–844 7835–7844 5361–5364 1889 P23 Stratford Works 10 845–854 7845–7854 5365–5372 1889 T23 Stratford Works 10 855–864 7855–7864 5373–5375 1889 Y23 Stratford Works 10 865–874 7865–7874 5376–5381 1890 U25 Stratford Works 10 875–884 7875–7884 5382–5388 1890 Y25 Stratford Works 10 885–894 7885–7894 5389–5394 1891 L28 Stratford Works 10 895–904 7895–7904 5395–5400 1891 N28 Stratford Works 10 905–914 7905–7914 5401–5407 1891 P28 Stratford Works 10 915–924 7915–7924 5408–5414 1891–92 S28 Stratford Works 10 925–934 7925–7934 5414–5421 1892 X28 Stratford Works 10 936–945 7936–7945 5422–5427 1899 I45 Stratford Works 10 507–516 7507–7516 5428–5435 1899 S45 Stratford Works 10 517–526 7517–7526 5436–5439 1899 X45 Stratford Works 10 640–649 7640–7649 5440–5449 1906 A60 Stratford Works 10 552–561 7552–7561 5450–5459 1912 B70 Stratford Works 10 562–571 7562–7571 5460–5469 1913 G73 Stratford Works 10 542–551 7542–7551 5470–5479

On 25 September 1900, locomotive No. 522 suffered a boiler explosion at Westerfield, Suffolk. Both crew members of the locomotive, driver John Barnard and fireman William MacDonald, were killed. On 20 January 1915, locomotive No. 629 was hauling a freight train that collided with the rear of a passenger train, hauled by GER Class T26 2 4 0 No. 446, at County School railway station, Norfolk. On 7 January 1927, locomotive No. 7613 was hauling a freight train that was in collision with a lorry at Roudham Heath, Norfolk, on the Breckland Line due to errors by the crossing keeper. The lorry driver was killed. On 4 October 1929, locomotive No. 7938 was hauling a freight train that departed against a danger signal at Tottenham, London and was subsequently stopped foul of a junction. Both crew abandoned the locomotive before a northbound mail train, hauled by LNER Class B17 4 6 0 No. 2808 Gunton, collided with the rear of the freight. 18 people were injured. In the late 1950s, No. 65475 had to be rerailed by crane due to an unknown cause and location. On 17 November 2018, locomotive No. 564 struck a vehicle on a level crossing near Sheringham in Norfolk. The driver of the Mercedes involved in the collision ignored the warning lights at the crossing and proceeded through into the path of the oncoming locomotive, which was travelling at around 10 mph at the time. The collision reportedly occurred at around 11:30 AM.

In September 1936 locomotives 7541 and 7835 were withdrawn by the LNER and sold to London Film Productions for their film Knight Without Armour. The two locomotives were moved to Denham film studios and underwent cosmetic modification to look more Russian as that was where the film was set. The locomotives were then sold to the War Department and worked on the Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway as WD221 and WD212. During their war service both were involved in incidents and returned to Stratford in 1944 and subsequently scrapped. Another member of the class appeared in the 1954 film Happy Ever After disguised as an Irish locomotive.

Number 564/7564/65462 is preserved on the North Norfolk Railway and owned by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society. In 2002 the locomotive reached the end of a major overhaul and was painted in LNER (numbered 7564) and BR black numbered 65462) liveries for the duration of its boiler ticket. It originally operated in these liveries when classified as a J15 in LNER and BR days. Following withdrawal from service in 2013, the locomotive received another overhaul (completed 2015) where it was outshopped in GER lined blue and sporting its original number of 564 and representing its days when classified as a Y14. 65469 was originally a candidate for preservation, but it was scrapped.

Hornby produces a ready to run model of the J15 in 00 gauge (4 mm) in BR (with the rebuilt high arched cab roof) and LNER liveries (both as built and high arch cab roofs). Also in 00 gauge, there are kits from Alan Gibson and Nu Cast. Finley and Smith produce a 3 mm kit. A 7mm (O gauge) kit is made by Connoisseur Models.